HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A “new discovery” in the case stemming from the 2021 death of former Humåtak Mayor Daniel Sanchez has led to a delay for the start of Rudy Quinata’s second trial.
Quinata was scheduled to go to trial again on March 20 for murder charges related to the death of Sanchez following a successful appeal of his convictions in the Supreme Court of Guam.
However, Quinata appeared for a pretrial conference in the Superior Court of Guam on Monday morning, where Quinata’s attorney, Peter Santos from the Alternate Public Defender office, told Judge Vernon Perez that there had been a new development in the case.
“There has been a development that was brought to my attention. There’s new discovery that needs to be given to us, which we don’t have yet. And when we get that discovery, it may necessitate (the) Alternate Public Defender’s withdrawal from the case,” Santos said.
Prosecutor Sean Brown subsequently explained there was a potential new witness in the case.
“I made (the) defense aware of a potential witness that needs to be interviewed on the idea that I was aware that he had been represented by (the Alternate Public Defender) in the past. I can’t provide discovery yet because I’ve not done the interview yet,” said Brown, adding the interview would require the witness to have legal representation.
Since the interview of the witness, who was not named, was still pending, Perez elected to vacate the March 20 trial date and scheduled a status hearing for April 8, when the parties will further discuss the new evidence.
Murder
Quinata and co-defendant Joyner Sked were charged in April 2021 with murder after Sanchez’s body was found in Quinata’s Humåtak home. At the time, investigators believed Sanchez was stabbed 23 times with a pair of scissors and beaten in the head with a hammer, court documents state.
The pair eventually went to trial separately, and they were both found guilty of their charges and sentenced to serve life in prison.
Quinata and Sked appealed their convictions to the Supreme Court of Guam. As a result, Quinata’s conviction was reversed and remanded for a new trial due to a “plausible claim of juror misconduct.” Justices, on the other hand, affirmed Sked’s murder conviction but ruled there was not enough evidence connecting Sked to a pair of scissors, with which she was accused of using to stab Sanchez, and they reversed Sked’s special allegation of using a deadly weapon.
Since the start of the year, Quinata and Sked have made several court appearances with the purposes of getting their cases resolved.
While Quinata is set to have a second trial, Sked is still likely to serve her life sentence. At a hearing last month, Brown stated there is a possibility Sked may be involved in Quinata’s second trial.
“I would like to also inform the court that since she (Sked) stands convicted, the Fifth Amendment no longer applies. The co-actor (Quinata) has a trial on March 20. … I don’t know if that’s going forward. I expect it to, but at some point, I’d like to sit down with Mr. (Terrence) Timblin and his client to see what exactly might happen during that trial because (the) jury would want to hear from her,” Brown said Feb. 29.
Rudy Fegurgur Quinata appears on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, at the Superior Court of Guam in Hagåtña.
